Work Area: Foreign investment control

A group of Republican senators have called for a foreign investment review of the proposed sale of semiconductor intellectual property developer OpenFive to a Chinese company backed by a government-affiliated private equity firm.

03 May 2022

The German government has reportedly invalidated the completed sale of domestic ventilator manufacturer Heyer Medical to a Chinese buyer over public safety concerns.

03 May 2022

The UK’s business secretary has agreed to discuss potential remedies with Cobham and its US-based parent company Advent regarding national security concerns in their £2.8 billion takeover of UK nuclear submarine supplier Ultra Electronics.

29 April 2022

An EU parliamentary committee has backed the European Commission’s legislative proposal to tackle anticompetitive foreign subsidies within the bloc, although lawyers are concerned about the wider effects the new legislation could have on international trading partners.

26 April 2022

A group of nine Republican lawmakers have urged the Biden administration “to employ all tools necessary to prevent” the sale of the UK’s largest semiconductor manufacturer to a company “with deep ties” to China.

22 April 2022

The European Commission has conditionally approved Parker Hannifin’s £6.3 billion purchase of rival aerospace component supplier Meggitt, although the deal faces a potential national security review from the UK government.

12 April 2022

An Australian court has fined a foreign investor more than €170,000 for purchasing several properties without receiving permission from the foreign investment regulator – the first-ever penalty order for a breach of Australia’s foreign investment rules.

12 April 2022

Canada’s House of Commons industry committee has recommended that any investment into the country by a company considered to be a state-owned enterprise in an authoritarian regime be subject to a national security review.

07 April 2022

The Australian government has tapped Bruce Miller – a former diplomat and head of the country’s top intelligence body – to lead the Foreign Investment Review Board following the death of its chair last week.

07 April 2022

The UK’s foreign affairs committee has expressed serious national security concerns about the proposed sale of the UK’s largest semiconductor manufacturer to a company that is “understood to be backed by the Chinese Communist Party”.

05 April 2022